09 October 2012

Photography: Kristi and Rick's Beach Wedding and Bunches of DIY

Y'all know that I love a good beach wedding. And what I love even more that a good beach wedding is a good beach wedding with bunches of DIY! That's why I am SO excited to share Kristi and Rick's wedding with you. They DIYed the CRAP out of their casually elegant beach wedding. Read on for more details from Kristi:

"Rick and I knew we'd get married on the beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was voted Most Beautiful Place in America by "Good Morning America" just days before our wedding! Most of our décor was found on the beach or provided by our florist who worked within our modest floral budget. Our ceremony had carefully-arranged driftwood made into a sculptural backdrop that echoed a 'ghost forest'. A ghost forest is a stand of dead trees on top of the sand dunes, roots suffocated and buried by sand blown into the woods. Trees remain standing for years, wearing down in the wind and sand to nothing but shiny, silvery wooden spires. Eerie, romantic, & completely unique to this ecosystem.

The reception [was at] the Inn at Black Star Farms, Suttons Bay. Our guests are still raving about it. Reception tables had driftwood for centerpieces. We incorporated the driftwood into our invitations by hand-binding guide books in covers of birch plywood. With our DIY mindset, we designed, wrote, built, printed, and handmade almost every single element to our wedding, from the invitations to the cake. I did my hair and make-up! Favors: we collected 20 antique bottles with a personal message inside for guests. I hand-stamped the name tags with the same loon that graced our invitations (custom stamp made from my drawing). Larger antique bottles were used as vases. Our 5 course wine pairing dinner was designed for us by the renowned “locavore” chefs at Black Star Farms. I made our cake and cupcakes and chef Stephanie helped me finish the cake when I ran out of time to pipe the frosting."